


Vanessa Mahoney and the Ghost of Cliff's Manor

by newenglishwoman



Category: Supernatural
Genre: alt vantage point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-18
Updated: 2010-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:51:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newenglishwoman/pseuds/newenglishwoman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vanessa Mahoney needs to get away from her normal boring life and takes a weekend vacation to Maine where she meets "Charlie Watts" investigating a ghost who is killing people.  Charlie is actually Dean Winchester, who found out fairly fast he wasn't cut out for a normal life and is hunting while attempting to find out what he can about how to get his brother back...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vanessa Mahoney and the Ghost of Cliff's Manor

Vanessa Mahoney needed to get away. She hadn't had a real vacation from her job as an associate attorney in years. And with the economy what it was, she was lucky to have a job, let alone actually get a raise. She channeled all of her frustration into her job, never taking a day, and never really going out.   
It was Friday, and like any other weekday, she woke up that morning to go for her morning run around the city. The moment she stepped outside however, wanderlust beckoned with the soft caress of a morning summer breeze.  
Standing outside in her running shorts, running cami and shoes, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, she breathed in the cool morning air. Vanessa listened to the chirping of the birds as she looked up at the blue, cloudless sky. At that moment, she had decided she was not going to work that day. She had then turned around, gone back into her apartment, and grabbed the phone to call in sick. As she gave a performance fitting of an Oscar to the office manager, she packed her weekender luggage bag. Moments later, she turned into the drive thru of a coffee shop to get her iced caramel macchiato. She was on her way to Ogunquit Maine. Her music of choice that morning was Led Zeppelin, which she was playing on the radio through her iPod. Vanessa had the windows down and the moon roof open. Three hours after that moment of decision, Vanessa was turning the black Accord coupe onto the long winding drive up toward Cliff Manor.  
The sounds of Zepp IV didn't seem to fit in the scene that was unfolding before her, and Vanessa shut off the music. The winding driveway up to Cliff's Manor seemed different. It was not as she remembered it, even from her last visit there three summers ago.   
Sure, she had remembered the driveway being lined with trees, but many of the trees had been thinned out by the time of her most recent visit. Cliff's Manor had planned to expand the resort by making additional buildings. She had heard that the economic downturn of the area had brought these plans to a staggering halt. But the scene that surrounded her now just didn't make sense. Not only were the areas that had been bulldozed overrun with weeds and brush, but the driveway itself was being reclaimed by nature, with various forms of dandelions appearing to pull their way through the cracks of the drive.  
Vanessa slowed down, noticing how the trees seemed to reach for each other over the drive creating a dark tunnel. A wave of excitement and fear washed over her. She didn't quite understand it, and found herself wondering what it meant just as the tunnel opened again and she found herself in the bright solace of the sun filled parking lot. The buildings looked the same as they always had. Vanessa wondered if her overactive imagination had created the gloom of the drive.  
There were quite a few cars in the parking lot, and Vanessa noticed her car was not one of the cheapest, as it often had been. Usually, the lot was filled with Mercedes and BMWs. She noted an Audi and a 15-year-old Saab as probably the most expensive cars in eyesight. She parked the car between the Audi and the Saab and went in to the office to sign in. A few minutes later, she was driving over to park in the little area near where her room was. She had one of the rooms in the old hotel area right on the cliffs. This building attracted less guests, and in fact, her car was the only car in that area of the parking lot. She opened the trunk of the car and pulled out her bag, plopped it on the ground and wheeled it to the door. The old hotel area had an old "log cabin" feel to it; or as "log cabin"-like as a place on the cliffs of Maine could be. The old, wooden door had a surprisingly modern keycard, which Vanessa put in to unlock the door.   
The room itself was dimly lit, and everything had that slightly damp, pungent smell of the sea. Vanessa let go of the handle of the bag, letting it fall to the floor. She then leaned to the side and lowered her right shoulder to allow her purse to slide off onto the king size bed. She walked with purpose through the hotel room, and drew back the shade hiding the back door. This hotel building, although one level, was right on the edge of the cliff. The backdoor lead to a balcony from which one could view the waves crashing on the rocks approximately 25 feet below.   
Vanessa unlocked and opened the balcony door. She could feel the warm air and the brightness of the sun hit her face. She took a moment, listening to the waves crash on the rocks, and the crying seagulls circling overhead. Vanessa smiled to herself as she thought over the things she hoped to accomplish this weekend.   
At first, she found herself going over all the things she wasn't going to do. Don't think about work. Don't think about Jason. Don't think about the script she was supposed to be writing. Catching herself in aggravation, she plopped down into the wooden chair on the balcony, put her feet up on the banister, sat back, closed her eyes and tried to focus on positive things. She definitely planned on reading a gothic novel. She had brought Rebecca with her, which turned out to be a fitting choice, considering the ride up the drive, so similar to the imagery of the creepy drive up to Manderlay for the second Mrs. DeWinter in the novel.   
She smiled to herself, sinking further into the chair, when all of a sudden a cry made her bolt upright. Her boots slammed down onto the floor of the balcony as she sprang to her feet. She leaned over the banister, trying to look around the corner of the building, over and down onto the patio of the main hotel building, stationed further back from the cliffs. The building she was in was stationed higher, closer to the edge of the cliffs. From where she was, she saw a teenage girl, laughing as she ran to the other side of the pool away from a teenage boy who was attempting to spray her down with a water hose.  
Scolding herself for letting her imagination run away from her, Vanessa decided to get changed and go to the game and pool area in the main hotel. About 15 minutes later, she was heading for the door in a bikini with a sarong tied around her waist. She slipped into her flip-flops as she slung her purse over her shoulder. Shutting the door to her hotel room, she put her car keys and hotel keycard into her purse and walked over to the main hotel building.  
2.  
Opening the glass double doors and walking into the hotel foyer, Vanessa felt a wave of cool air hit her. One of the workers did a double take as she walked in, causing her to smile to herself in a flattered, yet self conscious way. She ducked her head a little as she walked past him, heading toward the elevator that would take her down to the television/game room, gift shop and pool. A young boy whizzed by her, almost knocking her purse off her shoulder. The parents, talking to each other, moved much slower than their son. As they walked past Vanessa the boy's mother gave her an apologetic look. Vanessa thought for a moment that maybe she would take the stairs, but then saw that the boy's father had held the elevator. He motioned for her to enter and she quickly shuffled in.   
"It's all very interesting stuff," the man continued their earlier conversation, apparently trying to convince his dubious wife about something.  
"I'm sure it is to you. But ghosts? Please. So we're in Maine and all of a sudden you're Stephen King?" the woman said, laughing.  
Her husband gave her a wide-eyed, innocent look. "I didn't make it up! Apparently that ghost hunting group with the web show was thinking about checking this place out," he continued. "Something about some guest that killed himself and now bothers the current guests."  
"Hospitality ghost?" his wife skeptically questioned.  
Vanessa found herself intrigued with the conversation. She remembered hearing some rumor about a ghost. But he supposedly only showed up on the anniversary of his death. Even that, she had only heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone else. She had never taken it seriously. An actual haunting seemed just too good to be true. Of course she had never been here before looking for anything more than relaxation. Now, though, Vanessa had to admit that part of her was really hoping for an adventure, an escape from the mundane day to day. Maybe something a little more exciting than the new vibrator she had gotten at an Athena party she had recently attended. In an effort to play it cool and not look like she was eavesdropping, she took her Blackberry out of her purse and pretended to review her text messages.   
"..only once a year before, but the last couple years, something about-" he continued.  
The doors opened and the boy ran out toward the ping-pong tables. His parents followed along, the woman interrupting her husband continuing "Well, I don't-". Vanessa did not hear any more as they moved out of earshot.   
Vanessa turned and went to the television common room, opening the glass door. The entire wall was glass, so that one could see all of the chairs and the television from the gift shop area that was directly behind it. The room had windows looking out toward the ocean. Figuring she would have a much easier time looking at her Blackberry screen inside than out in the bright Maine sun, she went into the common room and plopped herself down on the couch. She opened up the explorer on her Blackberry and started surfing the web for haunting information regarding Cliff Manor.   
Sure enough, she quickly found an inexhaustible supply of information on a 23-year-old man that had killed himself in room 1309 back fifty years prior. The rumors were that every year on the anniversary of his hanging, he could be seen. Vanessa wondered why she hadn't bothered to look this up before. She found out that over the last couple years, people had seen this ghost more often, and there were some "accidents" ruled suicides during that time. For the first time since she got there, she understood why there didn't appear to be the same class of clientele at the hotel. The word must have gotten out about these deaths. For Vanessa though, this only enhanced the overall allure of the hotel. This had started out as just a weekend of peace and quiet. Now, she might be able to amateur sleuth the scene. Possibly even see something supernatural.   
As Vanessa kept going through article after article, she wished that she had brought her laptop with her so she didn't have to stare at the tiny Blackberry screen. Two hours had passed when she realized that daylight was burning, she had hit a roadblock in her "investigation", and she hadn't even started the book she brought. Rebecca isn't going to read itself. She thought, breathing a sigh. She pulled her copy of Rebecca out of her purse, and opened it to the first chapter, and leaned back on the couch, putting up her feet. The next minute she was engrossed in the twists and turns of Mrs. DeWinter's passage up to Manderlay. About fifteen minutes after that, she had fallen asleep on the couch, the book landing on the floor.  
3.  
Vanessa woke several hours later to a nudging on her shoulder from a teenage girl with purple hair and a hoop in her lip who had been working at the gift shop. The sun had gone down, and the common room was dark save the glow of the floodlights on the cliffs coming in through the windows in front and the dim light from the hall and the pool area coming through the one glass wall in the back.   
"Um, excuse me", the girl whispered. "I mean, you don't have to leave, but I have to lock up. You'll be able to get out, just not come back in."  
Vanessa nodded her head and rolled over facing into the couch. The girl quietly left, shutting off the main light in the gift area, leaving on only the nightlights and the display case to softly, eerily illuminate the area. Vanessa became very aware of the illumination coming in through the windows. She could also hear the waves crashing against the rocks below through the partially open window.   
Vanessa found the sounds and the darkness distracting. In moments, she was wide awake, focusing on the empty yawning in the pit of her stomach. Her body was rebelling from the two missed meals. She sat up and picked her book off the floor. Shit, she cursed to herself as she picked up the bookmark that had been on the coffee table and not holding her place in the book. As she stuffed the book into her purse she heard a crashing sound from down in what could only be the basement, causing her to jump to her feet.  
After hearing what she had heard from the couple on the elevator, and the hours of research on the Blackberry that afternoon, as well as the eeriness of her current situation, Vanessa's curiosity got the better of her. She was going to have to check out the strange noise. Vanessa's heart started thudding loudly as she walked to the glass door and opened it. She went through allowing it to shut behind her. She heard a rustling noise again and jumped. This time it seemed to be coming from the basement. She just had to find the stairs down.   
As Vanessa took a couple steps, the sound of her heart, and the sound of her flip flops, were deafening to her ears. She attempted to walk toe to heel, to stop her shoes from "flipping". Closing her eyes, she tried to approximate the location of the noise, but found she could only concentrate on was the quickening of her breath as a chill passed over her. When she opened her eyes again, she noted a door out of the corner of her eye, behind the counter of the gift shop.   
The area itself had a glass lighted display case in front, and a few t-shirts hanging up behind. The a little swinging half door stood between where the cashier would stand behind the glass counter, and the customer area. Vanessa went through the swinging gate to the door behind the cash register. She put her hand on the knob and tried to turn it, to no avail. She could feel the cool air from under the door on her feet. This confirmed to Vanessa that it was the door to the basement. Determined to find the key to the door, she began rummaging through the papers and paraphernalia under the register. She shook her head at herself, not quite understanding why she was so hell bent on finding some way through that door. Pausing a moment made her see the coveted metal object peeking out from under the cash register. Vanessa edged up the register to get underneath it and picked up the key. When she tried it in the lock, it worked.  
With a teensy squeal of glee, Vanessa unlocked the door and turned the knob. As she opened the door, she took in the eerie quality of the stairs. There was an old wall in front, the stairs were steep, and went straight down to the right. The first step down was a step that seemed worked into the corner as an afterthought, used to abruptly turn the stairs ninety degrees. She felt along the wall for a light switch, but could not find one. Vanessa chuckled to herself as she decided she would "pull a Scully" and took the penlight out of the front flap in her purse. Twisting the light on, she flickered the little narrow beam of light coming from the penlight down the stairs. She saw a light bulb over the area right below the stairs that had a long thin rope hanging from it. Vanessa started her way down the stairs, flinching with each step as the stairs creaked from her weight. To cut down on the sound, she tried again to go toe to heel. Doing this, however, she wound up paying so much attention to the way she was walking that she didn't see the raised nail sticking up from one of the steps. As she touched her toe down on the step, Vanessa caught her flip-flop under the head of the nail. The next thing she knew she was plummeting down the remaining stairs to the cement floor.  
4.  
"Hey, you alright there, grace?" Vanessa heard a husky male voice say as she regained consciousness. She felt the top of her head, which was sore from the fall and silently hoped no bump would form. As she started to move, she noted her whole body was sore. She looked over at the man helping her to her feet, and became lost in his beautiful green eyes. She felt her knees weaken, as he held her tighter to keep her from falling to the floor.   
"Are you ok?" he asked again, as a flash of worry crossed the eyes she had gotten lost in.  
"Old soccer injury," Vanessa murmured shaking her head, attempting to turn away. She realized for the first time that the light she had planned on turning on once she got to the bottom of the stairs had in fact been turned on by this stranger. The stranger who was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He was at least six feet tall, with amazing green eyes, and short, but tussled brown hair that looked like he had just gotten up and hadn't bothered to do anything with it. He hadn't shaved that day, and he wore jeans, boots, and an olive green t-shirt, with a blue canvas jacket over it.  
My God, Vanessa thought, it's like looking into the sun. She was staring, and now that he was fairly confident she was ok, he smirked. "Why are you down here?" he asked, with a tinge of amusement in his voice.  
"I, uh, heard a noise and, well," Vanessa stammered.  
The look that crossed his face was a mixture of amusement and alarm. "Please don't tell me you came down to investigate a strange noise."  
"Well, I had read about a haunting, and—" Vanessa started.  
"Free tip. Don't investigate a 'strange noise' in an area where there are rumors that there could be a haunting," he interjected.  
"Wait," Vanessa continued, "what are you doing here."  
"Investigating a strange noise," he said innocently.  
"yeah. O.k.," Vanessa said.  
"But seriously," he continued, "this could be dangerous." He took out his regular flashlight and looked down the corridor.  
"I'll bet you are," Vanessa said under her breath.   
"What?" He asked, aware she had said something, although not paying enough attention to know what.  
"Nothing. I'm Vanessa, by the way," she said, trying to keep the conversation going. "Vanessa Mahoney."  
"Uh, Charlie Watts," he said.  
"Isn't that the name of the Stones' drummer?" Vanessa asked, dubiously.  
"Wow, yeah." Charlie said, incredulously. "You listen to classic rock?"   
"Yeah."  
A look passed over his amazing features that made Vanessa feel absolutely tingly. She suddenly became very afraid that she might get weak in the knees a second time. He came close to her again, and looked down into her eyes. "O.K., enough exploring for you. Where are you staying?"  
"My room is in the smaller building over that way," Vanessa said, weakly pointing in the direction her building was in.  
Charlie promped her up the stairs. "It's dark, and there's no rhyme or reason to the deaths associated with this thing. I'll get you back to your place." He said, pushing her farther up the stairs.  
Vanessa finally found her voice, and turning to him, she nudged him back. "Thing? Now there is a "thing"? Well, I was kinda looking into this thing too. That's why I came down here in the first place," she reasoned. "Maybe I can help you."  
"I don't need help from an amateur. I won't have your blood on my hands," He said once again turning her towards the stairs.   
"Blood?" she turned questioning, incredulous as to how a simple sound from the basement could all of a sudden digress to death and murder. "O.K., Charlie. If that is your name."  
Charlie answered her inquiry with a look that made Vanessa sure he would sling her over his shoulder and carry her back to her room if he had to. But she had to try, "There has to be something I can do." She followed, and damn, his lips were perfect. Searching for something, she followed with, "Maybe hold your flashlight."  
Charlie smirked at that, "Sweetheart, later on that." He very smoothly turned her around and started guiding her up the stairs back to the gift shop. Once they were back up, he saw the key still in the lock. Vanessa heard him mutter, "Amateurs."  
"The key was under the cash register," Vanessa offered, trying to be helpful.  
"Yeah, well, I'm coming back. You're not." He said as he closed the door, locked it, and put the key in his pocket, bringing his arm around behind Vanessa, ushering her toward the stairs to the main level.  
5.  
Everything was quiet when they got to the door of her hotel room. Vanessa fumbled through her purse trying to find the keycard to the door. As she tried to pull out various items in her purse to figure out where it was hiding, Charlie walked around the front of the building. When he got back, he was frowning.  
"Are you the only one in this building?" he asked pointing at her door.  
"I don't know," Vanessa answered. Finally, with the keycard in hand, she raised her head and quickly surveyed the area herself. "I don't see anyone else, and I don't hear any movement."  
"Yeah," Charlie said under his breath to himself, then added, looking at Vanessa, "give me your phone."  
Vanessa looked quizzically at him. Seeing her reaction, he shook his head in exasperation. "Look, I'm not going to crank call you or some crap. I want to give you my number so you can call me at the first sign of trouble."  
"So you think there will be, uh, trouble," Vanessa asked as she pulled her phone out of her purse. This guy was hot, but she couldn't get over how he acted like everything was so dire.  
"Um, yeah. Otherwise I would have let you tag along, Buffy," he said, reaching for the phone as she held it up to him. He programmed in his number, and then the sound of "Smoke in the Water" could be heard from his jacket. He handed her back her phone and took out his. "Now, sweetheart, I have your number too. I'm calling you tomorrow morning to check on you."   
Vanessa stood under the door light with the keycard, in her left hand and her phone in her right hand. Charlie turned to leave, and then turned back, moving closer to Vanessa. He looked down at her, she looked up at him. She found herself completely lost staring at his face. And then she felt the keycard slide out of her hand.   
"Here, I want to look through the room and make sure everything's ok. " She barely sensed him move but she somewhere in the fog heard the door unlock. He edged the door open as he moved around her, keeping her behind him. He quickly went around the room, opening the door to the back porch, and then coming back over to her.   
Feeling like an idiot still standing by the door, Vanessa tried to be as nonchalant as she could, but incredulously said, "Dude, who the hell are you?" She moved away from the door as he approached it, putting one hand on the knob.  
"Batman," Charlie said looking down at her a lopsided grin spreading on his face as one hand opening the door. "Remember. Tomorrow."  
"Tomorrow," Vanessa whispered, but he was already gone. She gave a sigh and noticed that the entire time Charlie had been in the room, her luggage had been open on the bed, with her underwear on top. My god, I feel like a teenager. Vanessa thought to herself. She grabbed a tank top and sweatpants , and changed out of her bathing suit. She grabbed a bag of Doritos out of her bag, took her laptop out and went outside to sit on the balcony.   
Out in the chair, she turned on the laptop and got online, immediately searching Cliff's Manor and the ghost information she had found out about earlier. It all seemed pretty clear cut. The first death being fifty years ago, about the time the hotel was built. Then there were the sightings of the guy who committed suicide every year, around when he hung himself. Until a couple years ago, when other people started to kill themselves, or so it seemed, in the hotel. Why would this ghost that seemed harmless before all of a sudden start showing up at random times and murdering guests? Vanessa thought to herself. It just didn't make sense she mused as she ate Dorito after Dorito.  
Baffled, Vanessa decided she needed to do a lot more research on ghost hunting. Her first step was to Google ghost hunting in a more general sense. She found out that to get rid of a ghost, one had to find the bones, salt and burn them. Maybe that is what Charlie is going to do, find the bones of that first guy that killed himself, salt and burn them. A shudder passed through her as she visualized the process. The idea of finding old nasty bones that once were part of a living, breathing person and torching them seemed so shocking. Just who is this guy? She tried to rationalize, use her logic to fully grasp the idea of desperate times requiring desperate measures, and get back to researching.   
While still in research mode, the sun started to ascend from the ocean, making the water glisten. Such a splendid scene did not make looking at a computer screen very easy. A headache was setting in that reminded Vanessa that she had not slept at all that night. She shut down her laptop and picked it and what little remained of the bag of Doritos and went into the hotel room. She put on her canvas jacket and flip-flops and found her car keys. Coffee was required.  
As she pulled the door open, she saw Charlie with his hand raised as if he were about to knock on the door.  
"Hey," Vanessa said. Yes, he was as beautiful as he had been the night before. He had changed his olive shirt, and was now wearing a black t-shirt, but other than that, it looked like he was wearing nearly the same outfit.  
"Hey," Charlie answered. "I figured I'd stop by and see how you were doing. Did you sleep ok?"  
"Well, I didn't. Actually," Vanessa stammered, "I just kinda got caught up researching-"  
"Researching?" Charlie interjected, his eyebrows raised.  
"Yeah, I thought maybe I could look some stuff up. You know, help out in a librarian capacity?" Vanessa offered.  
"Actually, I can get on board with that," Charlie considered, massaging his temples with his hand. "Right now though, I need coffee."  
"That's where I was off to, actually."  
"I hear this place has an epic brunch." Charlie reasoned.  
"I forgot about that," Vanessa admitted, as she shut the door to the hotel room.   
6.  
"Ok, so to get rid of a ghost, you have to burn the bones, and salt them first, right?" Vanessa asked Charlie about an hour later, as they sat across from each other at a small table as far away from the other guests in the dining room as they could get. She was visibly uncomfortable saying it, but she was trying to get used to the idea of it. Charlie nodded his head, but his thoughts were more on the feast on his plate. He had a piled it high with everything from hash browns to scrambled eggs, to French toast, to an omelet. Vanessa sipped her coffee and marveled as he wolfed down everything in sight. She was surprised she wasn't as hungry since all she had eaten over the preceding 24 hours was three quarters of a bag of Doritos. Being with him she was suddenly too self conscious to eat and wound up getting a Belgian waffle with strawberries on top.   
"um, hmm," he said, affirming the nod. Then after washing down what he was eating with his black coffee, he added, "that's what I did last night. Everything should be set now."  
"You dug up a body. And burned the bones," Vanessa said slowly. She felt that all her hard work trying to desensitize herself to this the night before was all for naught. She pushed away her Belgian Waffle.  
"And salted them," Charlie added, between bites. "Can't forget that."  
"Uhm, no. of course not," Vanessa said, attempting calm her stomach. Trying to get her mind off of it, and procure more information, she asked, "But, where did you find the bones?"  
"Guy was a local," Charlie started. "There was an old creepy out of the way cemetery, so—hey, are you alright?"  
Vanessa's face had become very pale as she fought to keep down what she had eaten so far. "Yeah, I'm sorry. This is new to me," she said softly, trying to sound stronger than she felt at that moment. Regaining her nerve, she tapped into the logical side of her personality asking, "Is it true that this ghost has been around for about fifty years?"  
"Yeah," Charlie started more softly, as if trying to help ease her into the reality she was hearing about for the first time. He continued in a more matter of fact manner, "but the deaths, suicides, whatever just started a couple years ago. Something got him pissed."  
"I guess," Vanessa agreed.  
Both Vanessa and Charlie started as they heard a horrible scream coming from somewhere in the main corridor of the hotel. They looked at each other, got up from their table and followed the stream of people going to check out the spectacle. Charlie was faster, and soon disappeared into the crowd. Vanessa hung back, figuring she could at least call him later and find out what happened if he disappeared. As the shock wore off, patrons moved back to their seats. In Vanessa's haste, she had left her purse at the table, so she decided she should really go back to the table and at least try to sip her coffee.   
About ten minutes later, Charlie returned. He gruffly pulled out his seat, slumped down into it and looked at Vanessa. "There was another death last night. Apparently AFTER I salted and—uh disposed of the bones so either this guy has more remains or—"  
"—something else is going on…" Vanessa finished. She was glad he had seen her face pale and changed his wording. She gave him an optimistic look as she waited for his take on what was going on.  
"Maybe," Charlie started, then, defeated "nah, I've got nothing."   
"You know, I used to come here a lot," Vanessa started slowly, then, getting her wind, she started. " I read last night that a lot of stories have been going around about these deaths over the last few years. They aren't in the same rooms, they aren't even the same modes of suicide, if they are suicides--but they do have one thing in common."  
"Which is?" Charlie prompted.  
"They all occurred after the bulldozing for the third building started."  
"The third building?" Charlie questioned, surprised. "I thought there were only two."  
"Yes, but that's because they had to scrap the plans for the third building due to the downturn in the economy. They don't have the same revenue coming in so it was too costly for the project to continue."  
"So, maybe we'll find something in those overgrown dirt piles half way up the drive?"  
"It's a thought," Vanessa half smiled, proud of her sleuthing skills.   
"Not shabby Nancy Drew," Charlie praised, "wanna tag along?"  
"What about 'Danger, Will Robinson'?" Vanessa asked coyly.  
"The sun is up…the freaks come out at night. Let's roll," Charlie said, shoving the last biscuit on his plate in his mouth and taking one final swig of coffee. Vanessa took a last sip of coffee also. They left the dining room, went through the foyer, and then headed down the parking lot towards the overgrown dirt piles that Vanessa had seen on the way in.  
7.  
It had become very clear to them as soon as they got out to the sight that there wasn't much to be found out there. Charlie and Vanessa had wandered over the areas, but it wasn't like the area could be dug up to see if there was something else. Vanessa hadn't seen anything the night before indicating that there were some old burial grounds there, or some evil dark "church" or anything of the sort. Charlie had been very impressed with the fact that she had been able to answer every question he asked with an affirmative that she had looked into it, and Vanessa was happy to be able to be useful. When they realized that there wasn't going to be an easy answer, Charlie had decided that maybe they were over thinking it, and they should wait to see what happened that night. Maybe some clue would show up. He wasn't happy about the idea of basically using the unsuspecting patrons of the establishment as unwitting bait, but he didn't see any other way of scoping out what could possibly be happening at this moment. With that, they had decided to use Vanessa's laptop to see if there was anything they were over looking online, as Charlie had already scoped out the hotel. They had returned to Vanessa's hotel room and set up the laptop to continue researching for anything they may have missed. Both of them were seated close together on the kitchen style chairs set up at the little round table in front of the window where they were using the laptop.  
After what seemed like endless searching, Vanessa began losing hope they would find anything. "So, basically, it's noon, nightfall is in less than eight hours, and we have no leads," Vanessa finally said in exasperation, aggravated at the total lack of knowledge coming from a machine that was supposed to be a veritable cornucopia of information.  
"Hey, that's my line," Charlie muttered, half amused.  
"Well, it's true," Vanessa said, starting to feel very tense and ineffective. "I mean what if something happens and we could have stopped it." Vanessa's keyboarding skills suffered a downturn, her typing sounding more like banging on the keys as she attempted to refine her Google search. By this time her typing had gotten so shaky with frustration that the keys were sticking and she was no longer accomplishing much of anything.   
Vanessa felt Charlie cup her chin in his hand. He then tilted her face up toward his. "Welcome to my world," he said softly.  
She looked at him and felt all her power to resist melt away. Vanessa finally felt she might understand his intensity, his love of the job, and sheer frustration by it. But how could someone constantly deal with it? She asked herself. Then, out loud, "It's like this all the time?"  
"Pretty much," he commented.  
"It must be full on all the time crazy," Vanessa said, perplexed, looking into his eyes. "How do you deal?"  
"Sometimes I barely can. Sometimes I want a normal life so bad," He said, his hand still cupping her chin, his thumb stroking her lower lip, then "I tried, I did, but I just can't. My work—this work's important. And someone has to do it"  
"I see that." Vanessa questioned, her voice soft, almost a whisper. His lips were so close she could feel his breath on her face. The spot where his thumb had stroked her lower lip felt numb, and she softly bit it to make sure it was still there.  
Charlie looked into her eyes, "But I have my freedom, you know--the open road, my girl-the Impala. I get to travel around the country, see amazing things. Save people. Sometimes I even get to meet beautiful people."  
Vanessa couldn't feel her body, and a wave of relief that she was already sitting down flooded over her for the split second before Charlie's lips met hers with a soft and lingering yet intense kiss. Vanessa felt as if her whole body were tingling, she couldn't see, or hear, or feel, or taste anything but him. Without a clear memory of doing it, Vanessa had wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands clutching onto his soft, tussled hair. Her right hand then moved to his face, tracing the jaw line as if to make sure that he was actually there. Charlie had moved both hands down to her waist, then brought his hands lower to pick her up, shifting her so she was sitting facing him on his lap, her legs on either side of his hips. Locked in this passionate embrace, Charlie supporting Vanessa's back effortlessly stood up, still holding her around him. Vanessa wrapped her legs around his waist, as Charlie brought them over to the bed and gently lowered her onto it.  
She couldn't think. Her body was a torrent of pleasure. She wanted nothing else but to be as close as possible to him. She had no idea when her clothes came off. She vaguely remembered feverishly trying to find his bare skin, pulling clothing off to touch him, needing to feel his heart beating. She cried out in ecstasy as he thrust himself inside her and moaned with pleasure as he made love to her.  
What felt like moments later, Vanessa was lying next to him, with her head and her arm resting on his chest. Charlie's arms were around her and he was softly playing with her blonde hair and kissing the top of her head. Vanessa tried to find herself again, listening to the sound of his breathing. She moved her right hand over his heart to feel the vibration. Charlie was the first to break the silence. "Did that get rid of any of the tension," he said half joking, his voice still husky with passion.  
"I think now I'm just numb," Vanessa said looking up at him, her voice matching his for passionate huskiness. "What time is it?"  
"About three," Charlie answered, tilting her head up with the index finger of his left hand, and kissing her, focusing on the lower lip. Vanessa was lost again in the kiss, Charlie pulled away and Vanessa registered what he had said.  
"Three!" Vanessa practically squealed. "We have so much work to do!" She sat up and he propped himself up putting his elbows back into the pillow.  
"Vanessa," Charlie started, "You didn't sleep last night, you should take a nap. You need to be sharp for tonight. I don't want you getting yourself killed."  
She was very aware that was the first time he had actually called her Vanessa. She found herself taking a moment to catalogue the timbre and inflection used when he said her name and then was frustrated with herself for wasting valuable time over such a childish reaction.   
"But we need to see if there are any people who work here or live in the area that might know something about the spot that was dug up," Vanessa's mind was racing a million miles a minute. "And where did you find the bones you burned anyway? I mean are you sure you got everything? And what about—"  
Charlie gave an amused smile and pulled her down to him again. "I guess there's only one way I can shut off your mind," He said, kissing her.   
Vanessa attempted to keep control of herself, struggling out, "But, lives are on the line."  
"And they always will be," Charlie said breaking away. "You need to sleep. I'll check into the staff and see if there is anyone who knows anything. I'll be back about six with dinner."  
8.  
Vanessa stayed in bed while Charlie collected his clothes and put them on. She even made it look like she was attempting to fall asleep. Moments after he kissed her forehead and left, she was out of bed, having jumped in the shower to wake herself up. Vanessa had no intention sleeping that afternoon. Truth be told, she didn't think she could if she tried. She quickly washed her hair, putting in conditioner and shampoo at the same time to get it done faster, and within ten minutes she was scrunching her hair up so she could let it air dry and leave a little wave to it. What took the most time was putting on her makeup, which she wasn't going to skimp on considering the Charlie factor. When she looked at her clock, she was disturbed to find out it was already four pm and she only had two hours before he would be back.  
Most alarming was that she really didn't know what she was going to do, since she didn't really want to go to the main hotel. She really didn't want Charlie to know she had snuck out. She was hoping she may be able to sneak back into her room before he showed up at six.  
Of course this meant fairly random exploration. Wearing khakis, a white tank top and a navy terry hoodie, Vanessa headed out the door. She didn't bother with her purse, only took her keycard, pensized flashlight and lip gloss with her. She wasn't sure where she was going to go, so she took a couple minutes to survey the area. It was windy and off on the other side of the parking lot, toward the drive but on the right behind trees, Vanessa heard a banging noise, as if the wind was opening and shutting a door. Looking in that direction, she saw a fence, with what looked like the remains of a pool behind it. That must be the old pool, before the new one was set up on the patio, she deduced.  
With the brush around it, the pool was barely noticeable, but as Vanessa focused on the area, she saw an old pool shack behind it. That must be where the sound is coming from. Vanessa laughed to herself as she crossed the parking lot, realizing she was again investigating a "strange noise". Maybe Charlie would be amused, I mean at least I'm investigating in the daylight.  
Vanessa got to the fencing, and found it bolted. Not having bolt cutters, she tried to see if there were any areas of the gate that she could get under or squeeze through. She followed the fence's corner to the side which went more into the wooded area. Finally, she found an area in the fencing where she could squeeze between the posts. After getting through, she headed over to the run down pool shack. From up close, she could see how old the darkly stained wood was. The shack itself was larger than she thought it was from the front, as it appeared the shack was deeper than it was long. Using the tips of her fingers so as to touch as little of the door as possible, she edged the door open. Inside looked abandoned, as if no one had been inside in a long time. This didn't make much sense to Vanessa. The door slamming open and shut made it seem as if someone had been in the shack recently.   
Looking around the room wasn't as easy as one would think in the middle of the day. The windows were smudged over with dirt and filth, letting little light in. The open door brought light into the room in a rectangular shape, but not large enough to illuminate the room. She searched around for a light switch and found one, trying a number of times to get the light to flick on before surrendering to the idea that the light just was not going to work.   
Vanessa pulled the pen-sized flashlight out of the left pocket of her hoodie and twisted it on, to survey the entire room. In the far corner Vanessa found what looked like a trap door in the floor. She went over to it and pulled it up, shining the flashlight down into the hole, which appeared to be some kind of dirt floor cellar. Vanessa breathed a sigh of apprehension. Not another dark dingy area. She looked to see how she would be able to get to the dirt floor without risking breaking a leg as there were no stairs. Shining the light back up around the walls, she found a ladder, covered with dust propped against the wall. She awkwardly maneuvered the ladder into the hole. After finally getting it in position, she was breathing heavily, both because of the exertion of moving the ladder, and because she was beginning to feel as if an entire colony of butterflies were flying around in her stomach. She held the flashlight with her teeth as she started to descend the ladder into the room below. Her hands were shaking and sweating, which made her hands slip as she tried to grasp each rung on the way down. She could hear her heart thumping so hard she was afraid it would come through her chest.  
After what seemed like hours, she was in the room. She took the flashlight out of her mouth and moved the light around the room, looking for some clue, not sure what she was looking for. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a faint glow. She moved the light where she thought she saw the glow and saw nothing there. She then saw the glow again. Flashing the light, she saw a pale man with blackened marks around his neck look and point down to an area of the dirt floor. The pale man then seemed to fade in and out like television reception problems with a channel. He then faded back in right in front of Vanessa. His mouth was open in a scream, but no sound came out. His dead eyes bugged out of his head. Terrified, Vanessa tripped catching herself with the ladder almost knocking it over. She struggled to keep it in place. As soon as she had, she pulled herself onto the ladder grabbing the rungs and headed up to the shack as fast as her hands and feet could move. She got up to the room and hit the floor running. She didn't bother to pull the ladder, or even try to shut the trap door. Vanessa ran out of the shack and tore her hoodie in her haste to get through the piping of the fence.   
It wasn't until she was safely in front of her hotel room that she stopped running. She keeled over, putting her hands on her knees, out of breath. Her face went ashen as she furiously searched the pockets of her hoodie for the keycard, not finding it, afraid she had dropped it in her haste to leave the cellar of the pool shack. With a sigh of relief, she remembered she had put the keycard in the pocket of her khakis. She pulled out the keycard, put it into the slot, and went into her hotel room.   
Taking off her ruined hoodie, she attempted to calm herself down enough to stop shaking. Vanessa remembered that she had brought a bottle of wine and went into her luggage to get it out. Opening the bottle, she filled one of the hotel water glasses next to the ice box to the brim with the cabernet sauvignon she had brought. She then heard a noise coming from her purse. Her Blackberry, currently on vibrate, was making a real ruckus. She picked up her Blackberry and saw the call was from Charlie.  
"Hey," She said weakly.  
"Yeah, don't give me that sleepy voice. I checked. You took off," Charlie started sounding very aggravated.  
"I'm back at the hotel room. Can you ," Vanessa's voice cracked, with the emotional overload, continuing, "Can you please be here?"  
"Yeah, I'll be right over. I found something out," Charlie said, then hung up.  
"So did I," Vanessa said weakly, after he had hung up, still holding the Blackberry to her ear. She then lowered it onto the bed and took a big gulp of her wine.  
9.  
Within moments, Charlie was knocking on the door. With her wine still in her hand, she walked over to the door and opened it. As soon as he entered the room, she collapsed into his arms, still holding the wine.  
"Hey, what is it?" He asked taking the glass out of her hand before Vanessa spilled it everywhere and placed it on the little table. As she looked up at him she saw his look of annoyance becoming one of worry.  
"I'm sure you're used to seeing dead things all over the place, but I'm not, and-" Vanessa began.  
"Wait. What did you see, and where?" Charlie asked, pulling her away so he could look at her. Vanessa explained what she saw to him, then realizing the door was still open, she shut it as he began to pace. "Ok, that's starting to make sense." He said more to himself than to Vanessa.  
"Huh?" Vanessa asked, bewildered.  
"I found this maintenance guy who said that people talked about that spirit. The last couple years he appeared before one of those deaths happened. Didn't seem to be trying to hurt them, just warn. " Charlie explained, then continued. "I have seen stuff like this before."  
"But you burned his bones, wouldn't he be gone though?" Vanessa asked, perplexed. "Why would I see him?"   
"Well, sometimes salting and burning the bones isn't enough," Charlie continued, "Sometimes they're actually tied to something else, like a car, or a building."  
"Oh, so you think that's what this is?" Vanessa asked, still very disjointed from seeing him, even if he was there for a positive reason.  
"Possibly. I've learned that there is no clear bright line between good and evil. It would be so much easier if it was." Charlie mumbled.   
"But what was he trying to warn me about?" Vanessa asked.  
"Well, I found out that one of the local boys went missing when the renovations started a couple years ago, right before people started dying," Charlie explained. "Maybe he was ganked and is pissed as hell about it so he's taking it out on the guests. That ghost may have been trying to show you where he disappeared to."  
"But what does that have to do with Cliff's Manor? Why haunt here?" Vanessa continued.  
"Final resting place, probably. Spirits don't care. Things get muddled between worlds. They wind up pissed and looking for an outlet. What outlet doesn't much matter." Charlie went on, "Where did the ghost point to?"  
"An area in the cellar of the pool shack. There's a dirt cellar," Vanessa said, mustering strength she continued, " You'll need my help."   
"You were wilting like a flower when I got here. You're no good to me if you just get dead." Charlie said matter-of-factly. "I don't want you going."  
"Well, sure, I'm terrified," Vanessa began," But there's a lot at stake here, and there isn't much time before dark—"  
Charlie tried to interject but Vanessa kept going, "And besides, since that one spirit WAS able to manifest in the day, my guess is that the I'm dead as hell and not happy about it so I'm gonna kill people spirit probably can manifest in the day too. You need me." Vanessa said it all quickly, proud she was able to get it out without her voice cracking, or visible shaking of her limbs.  
Charlie breathed a sigh. "You're right," he said shaking his head then saying barely above a whisper, "Dammit to hell, but you're right."  
10.  
Charlie and Vanessa had made a quick stop at Charlie's car, a beat up old mustang, to get salt, lighter fluid, a bolt cutter and a shovel out of the trunk. When they got to the fence, Charlie was easily able to break the chain keeping it shut, and they were down in the dirt cellar in no time. He scoped out the cellar with his flashlight, finding a light bulb fixture similar to the one in the basement of the main hotel. He went over to it and pulled the light on.  
"Where did that ghost guy point to?" Charlie asked.  
"Over here," Vanessa said pointing. The spot the ghost had been in before was in the most remote part of the room from the light. The area was still in darkness.  
Charlie went over to the area and started to dig while Vanessa held the flashlight for him. While she was focusing the light on him, she felt a chill come over her. She tried to focus on the holding the flashlight in a helpful manner, but she shivered, forcing the light to waver.   
"What?" Charlie asked, pausing from taking a clump of dirt to look over at Vanessa.  
"Nothing, I just felt a chill." Vanessa said, shrugging it off.  
"Like the air suddenly got cold near you? Could you see your breath?" Charlie prompted.  
"Well, I didn't notice," Vanessa said questioningly, not understanding why he was so interested in her getting a chill. "It's no big deal, I think I'll-"  
Just as she was about to joke that she'd live, she saw an image coming into her peripheral vision. She sucked in her breath, causing Charlie to look up. The image was gone so fast, that she thought that she had imagined it though. "My mind is probably just playing tricks on me."  
"Yeah. Maybe," Charlie said, unconvinced.  
He went to take another shovel full of dirt when the iron shovel made a clinking sound as it hit something hard. Charlie bent down, starting to expose what had been hit by the shovel. "Hey, need the light down here," he said, attempting to get Vanessa's attention which still had the flashlight focused away from him toward where she had seen the image.  
"Oh, sorry. My imagination-" Vanessa apologized.  
"No, it might not be," Charlie commented as Vanessa moved the flashlight back down to where he was working. Vanessa let out a little yelp as she noticed that what Charlie had found looked distinctly skull like. Her palms got sweaty and a horrible feeling of nausea swept over her.  
"Is that—" Vanessa began, swallowing hard, attempting to keep what was in her stomach down there.  
"A skull," Charlie began while he continued to unearth it, "but with any luck there is a whole skeleton."   
Vanessa was sure she was going to be sick, but forgot it the instant terror set in as a horrible scream sounded out. Another ghost man, pale, full of rage came barreling at the two of them. The ghost tossed Vanessa against the wall like a doll, knocking the wind out of her. The Flashlight flew from her hand. The ghost went after Charlie, who fended off the attack by hitting the ghost with the iron of the shovel, dissipating it.   
Vanessa tried desperately to catch her breath, as her eyes looked around she saw the glow of the flashlight and once able, crawled over to it. Charlie was attempting to club the ghost as it disappeared and then reappeared on the other side of him. The shovel seemed to only effect the ghost for a moment at a time, keeping Charlie very busy.  
"The Backpack!" Charlie grumbled, as he fought the ghost. Vanessa was able to get to the backpack and found the salt and lighter fluid. She threw the salt down on the bones, then splashed the lighter fluid. She felt a lump in her throat as she realized she didn't have a match.  
"Charlie!" Vanessa cried over to him as he fought for his life. The ghost seemed to notice Vanessa for the first time since hurling her out of the way. It saw the lighter fluid canister still in her hands and with a roar started after her. Terrified, Vanessa couldn't move, she just stared at it as it came at her, she took a step back and was again on the ground, having fallen on her butt, her elbows bracing her from hitting her back on the floor, the lighter fluid canister flying out of her hand.  
Charlie took a lighter out of his pocket, flicked it open and threw it onto the bones, and they, as well as the ghost, burned away just as it had reached out to grab Vanessa. The ghost burned into nothing right in front of her. Vanessa tried to calm herself, as she started to hyperventalate. Charlie, breathing heavy from the exertion, came over to her and helped her to her feet.  
"You really know how to show a girl a good time," Vanessa said between heavy breaths, smiling weakly once she was again able to muster some semblance of speech.  
Charlie smirked picking up the shovel, and putting what was left of the salt and lighter fluid back into the backpack. He threw some dirt on what was left of the smoldering fire. Once it was out, he took a cloth out of the backpack and picked his lighter out of the soot, charred bones and ash.  
"Let's get out of here," Charlie said, one hand holding the shovel, the other at the middle of Vanessa's back, guiding her toward the ladder.  
"Yeah," Vanessa said, more strongly now as she ascended to the main floor.  
11.  
Vanessa quickly glanced around the hotel room to make sure she had taken everything she had come with. It was about 11:00am on Sunday, and she had to head home to have a little bit of down time after the drive back before Monday started. She checked under the bed, in the bathroom, even on the balcony. She had already turned in the keycard, so she wanted to make absolutely sure she had everything before closing the room. When she was satisfied, she slung her purse over her shoulder, holding the laptop and book in her arms, and wheeled the luggage bag out the door. As it shut behind her, she looked up into the blue, cloudless sky, and breathed a sigh of content, taking a moment to enjoy the scene in front of her, and think about the events of the last two days.  
Charlie hadn't stayed very long after the ghost was destroyed. He had walked her back to her hotel room to make sure she was alright. Once they got to the door, he gave her a soft, lingering kiss goodbye and then left. He was going to go back to the pool shack and fix up the dirt floor so that the place looked like it had before they left, then he was going to take off. The memory made her lips tingle, and she smiled as she lightly felt her lips with her index finger. She wished he had stopped by before leaving if just so she would know that he was o.k., and that nothing else had happened, and maybe because he felt just a little bit of what she had felt when they were together. This isn't his first time doing this, getting the ghost, or the girl. I'm sure he's fine. She reasoned.  
Now, though, she wondered about herself. If she was fine. Over the last few days, she had learned that all of the stuff scary movies were made of were real. Also, that evidently the man of her dreams was real too. Vanessa found herself wondering how she could go on living a normal life, going to work, worrying about what her boss thought, what her cholesterol was, what her chances of heart attack were, how long she should wait to tell Jason she didn't see their relationship going anywhere, knowing what was out there.  
But we all do know, in one way or another. Vanessa thought to herself breaking out of her reverie and awkwardly moving her way to the car with all of her belongings. She clicked open the trunk of the Accord from the car key and clumsily lifted up the luggage dropping it down in. Maybe it was time she got her priorities in line and figured out just where she wanted her life to go. Vanessa went to the passenger's side door and gently tossed her laptop, book and purse onto the passenger seat.  
She shut the door to the passenger seat, and went to the back of the car and slammed the trunk down. As she did this, a black 1967 Impala drove up and parked behind her. Vanessa turned as she heard the front driver's side door creak open. She saw Charlie get out of the car and turn to face her, looking at her over the Impala, and resting his arms on its roof.  
"Hey."  
Vanessa swallowed and started to walk around the Impala toward him. "Everything went ok?" she asked, wondering to herself why she felt so nervous seeing him after all that had happened in the last day and a half.  
"Yeah," he said taking his arms off the roof of the car and moving to shut the car door. "I've gotta head out."  
"Where to?" Vanessa prompted. She didn't want him to go, something in his amazing green eyes told her he didn't want to go either, but something else was going on--Something bigger than the two of them. Vanessa felt compelled to move closer to him. For a moment, he seemed so vulnerable. She reached over and touched his arm.  
She saw Charlie look down at her arm and then gaze toward the driveway. "There's someone. My brother—I have to find him. He was gone—," Vanessa heard Charlie's voice break at this. He raised his hand to his lips and chin, and then continued, eyes moist, "somewhere horrible, but I know he's not there anymore, but something's wrong and I have to find him."   
"Do you need help?" Vanessa asked. He palmed his face as if attempting to wipe away the emotion, and her heart ached for him. After a moment, he looked down into her eyes, and put his arms around her waist, pulling her to him. Vanessa could see the determination in his beautiful green eyes.  
"I've gotta do this on my own," Charlie started. "It's not a one day or even a one week thing. You have a life." Charlie trailed off. "I thought I could have a normal life, the barbeques, the Sunday dinner, even tried it a little while ago, but It's not me. I'll never have that."  
"Normal life! But what you do is so much more important!" Vanessa said, looking up at him and moving her fingers to touch his cheek. "Who could be satisfied just sitting idly by doing nothing to stop this?"   
Vanessa saw a look of fear cross Charlie's face, "You! Please, don't go out there and try to fight ghosts and monsters on your own!" He pleaded, she felt his arms clutch around her tighter. "I've lost too many people because they thought they could handle it." He took one hand away from her side and cupped her face. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid. "  
He softly kissed her then, afterward adding, "or at least call me before you do something stupid."   
"Charlie," Vanessa started. She saw the fear in his face start to dissipate, replaced with a look of sheepishness.  
"About that," he started softly. "I had to, uh, come out to a fairly populated area for this one, and let's just say that there are a lot of people who want to talk to me…so…"  
"I was right," Vanessa said with a half smile. She knew she should probably be more upset with finding out he gave her a fake name, but there, in his arms, she wasn't reacting to anything other than how physically close he was to her.  
"My name is Dean," he started.   
"Dean," Vanessa softly said, tracing his chin. "Dean what?"  
"Winchester," she heard him whisper as his mouth got closer to hers. Vanessa felt her knees buckle when their lips finally touched. He heard him slightly chuckle. She marveled as his ability to chuckle and not break the kiss, all the while holding her up.   
She felt Dean break the kiss and pull ever so slightly away. Before she could open her eyes, he had softly kissed her again, and finally she felt him break the embrace. Vanessa attempted to regain control of her body. She had to admit, she liked the name Dean much better. It suited him. And she was pretty sure he wasn't lying this time. She watched as he opened the car door and got into the driver's seat. He closed the car door, the window was open, and he rested his left elbow on the bottom of the opening.   
Dean looked out the window up at her, and she heard him say "Remember, nothing stupid. Call me first." Before she knew it, he had taken off. She watched until the Impala was out of sight. Vanessa then looked over at her own car. She went to the driver's side of the car, opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. She shut the door and turned on the engine. After hitting buttons to lower her windows, and then the button on the dash to open the moon roof, Vanessa turned on the radio, tuning in her iPod. She changed the album to Let it Bleed from the Rolling Stones, track nine. I will have to research for some new Dean inspired side jobs. She thought as the choir started to sing.


End file.
